William Blake: A Rebel Against the Age of Enlightenment
Pauper, prophet and pre-Romantic
Where does genius end and madness begin? Where does vision decay into delusion? In an age of revolution and enlightenment, one man walked the thin line between these forces. His name was William Blake, poet, painter, and one of Britain’s most influential figures.
In Blake’s time, millennia of religious doctrines were buckling under the weight of new scientific advancements. The contemplative life was replaced with the roar of industrial machines and revolutionary canons. Kings, tyrannies, and colonies collapsed, and new nations rose in their stead, only to fall and be reborn once more.
Amongst all this, William Blake, a man considered mad in his own time, was touched by something. Whether that something was God, or an inner madness makes little difference, for it led him to create some of the most breathtaking literature and art ever seen. Let’s investigate the unstable mind of a legendary artist, only now getting the recognition he deserves.
Life
William Blake’s life is difficult to explain because recounting the facts of…
